Express-Scripts plans $56 million expansion and 1,500 new jobs over five years

St. Louis is headed to the top ten in college attainment.

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A pillar of our economic development strategy is that, “We will win on today’s regional strengths in focused economic clusters. Explore in detail the four sectors that we believe will shape our region’s future.

“The Banker” … from Central Park West to Washington Avenue

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We’ve condensed a detailed three-year plan into a single paragraph we call our Strategy Statement. It’s all about priorities and direction.

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Our research team has probably answered almost any question that could be asked regarding the St. Louis region. If you can't find it in our Regional Data section, please send a note to Tim Alexander at talexander@stlregionalchamber.com.

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Inner City Capital Connections Program has come to St. Louis. To date, this program has helped 837 different businesses raise over $1.32 billion in capital and create over 11,000 jobs in the inner city. Read more about the program on our blog.

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We believe nothing is more important in St. Louis than achieving Top 10 status in college attainment among the nation's largest metros. Visit www.topteneducation.org to follow our progress.

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If your company represents growth potential for the region -- or you know of other companies that do -- we'd be pleased to help however we can. Please contact Jim Alexander at jalexander@stlregionalchamber.com

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St. Louis is home to 16 Fortune 1000 companies and some of the largest private firms in the U.S.; but don't overlook the ever increasing number of high growth small-to-medium enterprises and startups. Click here for a quick summary.

St. Louis Press Pass

by
Gary Broome
| Jun 05, 2015

Young Israeli biotech company will move its U.S. office to St. Louis(St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/5/15)

Another young Israeli biotech company is establishing ties to the St. Louis region. Forrest Innovations is moving its U.S. headquarters from Maryland to Creve Coeur, where it will set up a research facility at BRDG Park on the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center campus. >> CLICK FOR MORE

7 Ways The St. Louis Regional Chamber Is Continuing The Spirit Of St. Louis (Alive Magazine, 5/26/15)

The St. Louis Regional Chamber has a long history of fostering new endeavors. Take, for example, where the organization was when Charles Lindbergh took off on his pioneering flight: at his side, underwriting his adventure with a check for $25,000 (around $339,000 today). The deal, according to St. Louis Regional Chamber President and CEO Joe Reagan? Call the plane the “Spirit of St. Louis.” It was a catchy name, but one that dug into what our fair city was—and is still—all about: “The spirit of St. Louis isn’t something that comes from the plane; the plane came from that spirit of St. Louis,” says Reagan. >> CLICK FOR MORE

One St. Louis company moved up a lot in this year's Fortune 500, two fell by dozens of places and the metro area maintained the nine slots it has held for several years. Express Scripts Holding, the region's largest public company, slipped to 22nd place from 20th last year. The biggest local gainer was Centene, which moved up 65 places to 186th. >> CLICK FOR MORE

The U.S. economy expanded in the past two months, even as manufacturers in some regions took a hit from a stronger dollar and a slowdown in energy-related investment, a Federal Reserve report showed. Four of 12 Fed districts reported "moderate" growth, and three others, including the St. Louis Fed, described the expansion as "modest," according to the Beige Book, released Wednesday in Washington, which is based on reports gathered from early April to late May by regional Fed banks. Elsewhere, the pace of growth varied from "mixed" to "slight." Growth slowed in the Dallas Fed district. >> CLICK FOR MORE

St. lOUIS NAMED ONE OF THE bEST cITIES FOR sTAYCATIONS (St. Louis Business Journal, 6/1/15)

Summer is right around the corner, although you wouldn’t really think so due to the chilly and rainy weather we’ve had recently. But I’m sure that we can all agree that the best part about summer are the vacations we get to take, once it finally warms up. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Bee champ Gokul talks to KSDK (KSDK, 5/29/15)

Chesterfield's Gokul Venkatachalam won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland Thursday night. The Parkway West 8th grader will share the title with Vanya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas. For the second year in a row, and only the fifth time ever, both of the teens were crowned the winners after the bee judges ran out of final round words.. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Sara Investment to spend $15 million in St. Louis (St. Louis Business Journal, 5/29/15)

Roughly four months after opening a St. Louis office, Madison, Wisconsin-based Sara Investment Real Estate has made its first local acquisition. >> CLICK FOR MORE

St. Louis among nation’s best homebuyers’ market (St. Louis Business Journal, 5/29/15)

Homebuyers in St. Louis are getting a better deal than anywhere else in the country, according to new statistics provided by RealtyTrac. Out of more 300 counties tracked — each of which had a population of more than 100,000 and more than 100 home sales during April — 59 percent of those markets had average home sales that were less than their estimated full market value. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Charter buys Time Warner Cable in $55B deal (USA Today, 5/25/15)

Charter Communications (CHTR) said Tuesday that it is buying Time Warner Cable (TWC) for $55.3 billion, forging ahead with its theory that broadening its presence nationally would provide the leverage it needs to fend off the challenges in the turbulent pay-TV industry. Including Time Warner Cable's debt that Charter will assume, the deal is valued at about $79 billion. . >> CLICK FOR MORE

Charter and Suddenlink deals: All cables lead to St. Louis (St. Louis Business Journal, 5/29/15)

Jerry Kent sold his cable company, Suddenlink, and then just a few days later, saw another cable company where he’d been CEO, Charter Communications, quadruple its customer base to 24 million with the acquisition of Time Warner Cable.>> CLICK FOR MORE

When Major Michael Bennett, an Army IT specialist stationed at Scott Air Force Base, retires from the military at the end of this month after 20 years of service, he’ll be transitioning right into a private sector job. And the job won’t take him far afield. Bennett will be working once again on Scott AFB, but this time as an employee of C5T Corp., an IT company that works with the Department of Defense. >> CLICK FOR MORE

A deal to transfer St. Louis University Hospital to SSM Health will expand the hospital operator’s already sizable footprint in the region as well as tie SLU Hospital and the university’s medical school to a stronger partner. The deal also ends St. Louis University’s growing frustration with the hospital’s current owner, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., over the medical center’s future. >> CLICK FOR MORE

St. Louis-based cloud provider and data centers operator TierPoint has completed an expansion at its Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, data center. The multi-million dollar expansion increased available space by nearly 150 percent, according to a release, with the addition of 17,000 square feet of data center space to the 125,000-square-foot facility. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Entrepreneurs and new business startups are invited to compete in the 2015 Metro East Start-Up Challenge (MESC), Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s second annual regional business plan competition, according to a press release.
The $25,000 challenge is organized by the Illinois Metro East Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The purpose of the challenge is to identify, encourage and support entrepreneurs and business startups across the SBDC’s nine-county service area. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Komen St. Louis invests over $2 million in local breast health programs (St. Louis American, 6/2/15)

Susan G. Komen St. Louis has awarded more than $1.5 million to fund local breast health and breast cancer programs for 2015-2016. These community grants will provide thousands of women and men with life-saving breast cancer screening, breast health education and patient navigation and support services throughout the next year. >> CLICK FOR MORE

The U.S. Commerce Department, Economic Development Administration has awarded St. Louis Economic Development Partnership a $500,000 grant to develop a comprehensive master plan for an expanded innovation hub in Creve Coeur.>> CLICK FOR MORE

Plans for Plant-Science District in Creve Coeur (KMOX, 5/27/15)

St. Louis County is planting the seeds for an agri-science research district in Creve Coeur. Denny Coleman, CEO of the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, says the district would tie together all the individual elements in that area, like Monsanto, the Danforth Plant Science Center, the Helix Center and BRDG Park. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Boeing’s Hazelwood-based Defense, Space & Security unit is forming a new data analytics organization to leverage information technology across its services. The group will bring new information capabilities to existing and future platforms. Chris Chadwick, president and CEO of Defense, Space & Security, said the new organization represents a growth opportunity that Boeing’s competitors can’t easily match. >> CLICK FOR MORE

SunEdison to build 7 solar plants in New York (St. Louis Business Journal, 5/28/15)

Maryland Heights-based renewable energy developer SunEdison has signed agreements with five municipalities on Long Island, New York, to build seven solar power plants that total 14 megawatts. The electricity generated from the plants — enough to power more than 1,100 homes — will be sold to Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), an electricity service provider through separate 20 year power purchase agreements. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Mary C. Lamie, vice-president of the civil-engineering and surveying firm EFK Moen, has been named executive director of a new freight development agency that will coordinate planning and projects for the region's freight and shipping infrastructure.. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Michael Steinmann has purchased HITS Scanning Solutions, a document management and conversion company, for an undisclosed price and announced a facility move. The company was founded in 1994 by Peter Gallagher as a microfilm business before adding paper conversion services.. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Minority and women contractors who can’t get traditional loans to expand their business in St. Louis have a new resource at their disposal: the Contractors Loan Fund. Certified minority and women-owned business enterprises will be able to apply for a loan of up to $1 million from the fund, which has a pool of $10 million. >> CLICK FOR MORE

800 More Jobs Coming to Wentzville (KMOX, 5/29/15)

More manufacturing is on its way to Wentzville, bringing 800 jobs along with it. On the heels of expansion at the General Motors plant, Wentzville Mayor Nick Guccione says North Point Development is building a 1.3 million-square-foot logistics center that will also provide some warehouse space for the nearby G.M. plant. >> CLICK FOR MORE

The Belleville City Council on Tuesday night voted 14-1 to approve a TIF plan for an Illinois 15 site where developers want to build an upscale hotel, Hofbrauhaus brew pub, other restaurants, a conference center and a gas station across the highway from the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. This was the final City Council vote in a series of tax incentives requested by developers Chuck Keller, his son Chane Keller of Effingham and Forrest Langenfeld of Centralia. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Stone Carlie Merges with BDO USA (Construction Forum STL, 5/21/15)

The From Accounting Today: BDO USA said Friday it would add Stone Carlie & Company to its firm, expanding Chicago-based BDO into the St. Louis market and in the process becoming a firm with more than $1 billion in annual revenue after a string of recent mergers and acquisitions. The deal is set to take effect on June 1 and will add approximately 100 staff members and eight partners to BDO’s roster.. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Stenger ‘Optimistic’ About Charter’s St. Louis Jobs (KMOX, 5/27/15)

The Now that Charter Communications has officially announced its intention to purchase Time Warner Cable, St. Louis County leaders got to work immediately to discuss the corporate future in the region. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger says he’s gotten the good word. >> CLICK FOR MORE

The program “Building St. Louis, Construction Transformation Panel” will feature a discussion of four game-changing St. Louis projects June 25 at Washington University in St. Louis. The panelists will be William DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals; Anna Leavey, program manager, CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation; Mark Gasper, U.S. engineering manager, IKEA Property, Inc.; and Mark H. Schnoebelen, vice president, Massman Construction Co. (lead contractor on the Stan Musial Memorial Bridge. They will discuss the impact that their projects are having on the social and economic transformation of St. Louis. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Lindenwood University has seen a huge jump in the number of students seeking MBA degrees at the institution.
The school’s MBA program is offered at 12 of Lindenwood’s campuses including the one in Belleville.
It has seen its enrollment increase 138 percent in the last year, school leaders said.>> CLICK FOR MORE

The colleges and universities of Southwestern Illinois have an annual economic impact on the region of more than $1 billion, according to analyses performed by each. They are also growing quickly.
According to figures compiled by the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, the combined total of the annual budgets of the area’s five colleges and universities has almost doubled over the past 10 years, from $266 million to almost $500 million. During the same time frame, the number of full-time faculty employed by these institutions has also grown by 27 percent, while the number of part-time faculty jumped 23 percent. A total of almost 2,700 faculty members now serve the almost 40,000 full- and part-time students attending these institutions. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Like many minority contractors, he didn’t have the collateral or cash flow that banks require to get a traditional loan. His business has grown “slow and steady,” and now Simms Building Group is the general contractor on an $8 million streetscape contract within the $2.2 billion Cortex research park project in midtown St. Louis. On May 27 at the Cortex Innovation Community building, Simms was among about 50 business and city leaders who applauded the announcement of the $10-million Contractor Loan Fund, which is designed to give minority and women contractors access to capital so they can grow their businesses. >> CLICK FOR MORE

The Saint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA) was selected as the readers' choice for Best Art Gallery in GO! Magazine's third annual list of St. Louis' Best People, Places and Things. In April, the museum was ranked No. 4 among the top 50 college and university museums in the nation. It was the only college or university museum in Missouri to be named to the list, which was topped by the Harvard University Museum of Natural History. >> CLICK FOR MORE

The biggest succulent event in the Midwest will be held at the world-class Missouri Botanical Garden this summer. The annual Henry Shaw Cactus and Succulent Society Plant Show and Sale will celebrate their 73rd year by offering thousands of unusual, as well as standard specimens, of cacti and succulents Saturday, July 18, and Sunday, July 19. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Eight local companies with deep engineering expertise will provide a five-day program of hands-on activities from June 1 – 5, 2015 for Cor Jesu Academy students to experience and explore STEM-related fields. The second annual Summer Engineering Experience (S.E.E.) will immerse the group of 15 young women, all rising high school juniors and seniors, in five key areas of engineering: civil, biotech, mine and energy-sourced, and manufacturing. >> CLICK FOR MORE

Boys and Girls Club to open facility in Ferguson (KTVI, 6/2/15)

The Boys and Girls Club of Greater St. Louis will soon open its sixth location. A Ferguson club to serve kids six to 18 in Ferguson and neighboring communities will open Monday at the Ferguson Middle School. The club will be open every day this summer for summer camps and when school starts, it will be open until 8 pm each night.>> CLICK FOR MORE